Buddy lucky that no one was hurt in latest driving mishap

It is now beyond dispute that any suggestion Lance Franklin and his rock-star lifestyle would be left to their own devices in a big city not obsessed with Australian football was fanciful.

This is because Franklin has not significantly curbed that lifestyle and also because Sydney is a tabloid town that knows a car crash waiting to happen when it sees one, and pounces accordingly.

Most recently it is because Franklin is a bad driver. Remarkably, the Swans' $10 million investment escaped injury after the Jeep he was driving along New South Head Road crashed into four parked cars. As Franklin pointed out on Thursday morning, he was thankful too that no innocent bystander was hurt.

So the former Hawk will be right to play at the MCG against Melbourne on Saturday night - his first game at the ground since the 2013 grand final. But Franklin will return to his old home town under a cloud of controversy and suspicion amid a respected and systems-driven football team now surrounded by question marks over just what it has signed up for.

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The speculation regarding alcohol or drugs being involved in the Wednesday night crash was denied by Franklin's club and the player also denied rumours he was text-messaging while driving. He has been fined and the incident is still being investigated, with speculation also surrounding his medical history of seizures.

The more likely explanation is that Franklin is a dangerous driver with a poor record. Given the magnitude of the Swans' investment, surely the club could justify requesting the player hire a driver. Certainly his former Hawthorn teammates were given the job often enough and perhaps now Sydney must bite the bullet.

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Hawthorn lost patience with Franklin's erratic driving after a series of incidents during the 2012 season. He was suspended twice and narrowly escaped injury after a crash on Yarra Boulevard in Burnley.

Franklin was living in a quiet street in Brighton when he was caught in July, 2012, driving at 90km/h in a 50km/h zone. The view of his club at the time was that he had been caught by police after a number of complaints from neighbours who had also lost patience with Franklin's speeding and that the player had been targeted.

The crashed Jeep is removed from the scene after the crash. Photo: Britta Campion

He lost his licence for six months, but before being officially banned, Franklin's luxury Mercedes collided with a woman in Burnley in August in an accident the Hawks accepted had been caused by an error of judgment.

The woman involved was admitted to hospital with an injured arm and wrote to the club complaining of Franklin's lack of contrition. The club referred her complaint back to Franklin and demanded he handle the issue.

Franklin's Mercedes was badly damaged again last month when his Sydney teammate, Daniel Hannebery, was behind the wheel and crashed it in a morning accident. Again no one was seriously hurt.

Franklin's licence was suspended again in 2013 when he exceeded his maximum demerit points balance.

Hawthorn players are still asked frequently about Franklin and the hole his departure has left, and the running commentary indicates that they have well and truly moved on, having become increasingly used to the idea he would go as 2013 progressed.

Franklin, not close with the majority of Hawthorn's younger players, had begun to distance himself from his longer-term teammates and he chose to party more frequently with a different group and turned to those rugby union friends he later followed to Sydney.

The Hawthorn leaders, both on and off the field, deserve much credit for the manner in which they handled Franklin over his time at the club and how he managed to thrive. Alternatively, there is an appreciation among his old teammates of Franklin's larger than life presence - now gone from Hawthorn's rooms - and his formidable talent.

Not to mention the fact he played his role with aplomb during the Hawks' premiership season, never allowing his contractual standoff to become a distraction.

The same cannot be said of Franklin since he joined the Swans. Even he admitted after the car crash that his teammates would not have appreciated the spotlight moving onto them again for all the wrong reasons.

Wednesday night was Franklin's first road accident since joining Sydney, but there is no doubt his off-field behaviour has been a talking point. Despite this, Sydney chief executive Andrew Ireland has consistently denied, and did so again on Thursday, there has been any questioning of Franklin's commitment to the team.

The Hawthorn leadership group is among the most respected in the competition and they in turn hold their Sydney counterparts in significantly high regard. This is then a big test for the Swans leaders.

Ireland, who masterminded the high-risk coup almost single-handedly, will call on every last piece of his formidable football experience to deal with Franklin, as will football manager Dean Moore and coach John Longmire.

But in truth, this is a job for the Sydney leadership group, whose tough love and inherited system has at various stages tested, rejected and triumphed with individuals ranging from Barry Hall to Mitch Morton.